Mutual Indwelling and the Cry of Dereliction from the Cross

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonore Stump
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross

Sustained examination of experiences that could explain the cry of dereliction from the cross pushes towards an interpretation of the cry according to which the psyches of all human beings pour into the human mind of Christ in his suffering and dying. Insofar as Christ is in the Father, then insofar as human persons are in Christ, they are also in the Father with the Son. And since the Holy Spirit is in every person in grace, in a person in grace there is the kind of mutual indwelling between God and Christ’s disciples that there is between Christ and the Father through the Holy Spirit. In this complicated way, then, there is an account of union in love between God and human persons that is Trinitarian in character.

Moral Formation in Christ, the Beautiful Beloved

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Stewart-Kroeker
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Moral Formation ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Loving Relationship ◽  
Falling In Love

Christ’s healing of humanity consists, crucially, in forming human beings for loving relationship with himself and others. In this respect, Christ also takes the role of the beautiful beloved. Believers become pilgrims by falling in love with the beautiful Christ by the initiative of the Holy Spirit, who cleanses their eyes to see him as beautiful and enkindles desire in their hearts. By desiring and loving the beautiful Christ, the believer is conformed to him and learns to walk his path. Desiring the beautiful Christ forms a believing community shaped aesthetically and morally for a particular way of life: pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland. Formation is both earthly and eschatological, for so too is the journey and the activity of the pilgrim.

scholarly journals Guds frie nåde, troens frie gensvar: Frelsens betingelser hos N. F. S. Grundtvig og John Wesley

2004 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-133
Author(s):  
Niels Henrik Gregersen
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
John Wesley ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Divine Grace ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Functional Equivalent

Guds frie nåde, troens frie gensvar: Frelsens betingelser hos N. F. S. Grundtvig og John Wesley[Free Divine Grace andfree Response o f Faith: Conditionalist Motives in N. F. S. Grundtvig and John Wesley]By Niels Henrik GregersenThe essay aims to point out common theological grounds between John Wesley (1703-1791) and N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783-1872). It is argued, first, that Wesley and Grundtvig share the same problem of how to reformulate the Reformation insight in God’s unconditional justification in a context of modernity, in which human freedom is seen as essential also in spiritual matters. It is furthermore argued that Wesley and Grundtvig concur in criticizing the Augustinian-Reformed doctrine of double predestination. Both argue that grace is for all humankind, but grace is not an irresistible force that captivates the human mind. Grace, rather, is a divine self-offering that stimulates the sinner to give a positive response to God’s free offer. Due to his Arminian allegiance, Wesley was an outspoken conditionalist, who explicitly criticized Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. Grundtvig’s critique of Augustine and Luther, by contrast, was mostly of a more indirect nature and couched in his independent use of the Augustinian motifs of grace. The most important difference between Wesley and Grundtvig, however, is that whereas Wesley develops an expanded notion of prevenient grace, Grundtvig expands the traditional notion of creation and imago dei. According to Grundtvig’s doctrine of baptism (central to his so-called Church View), the invitation by Christ to become baptized puts the requirement on the old human being (who is not yet baptized by the Holy Spirit) that he or she must renounce the Devil and embrace the truth of God. Grundtvig’s rich doctrine of imago dei and divine providence can thus be seen as a functional equivalent to Wesley’s doctrine of prevenient grace. Grundtvig, however, never shared Wesley’s view of the possibility of a Christian perfection. Instead, Grundtvig developed a theory of the possibility of a post-mortal conversion (cf. 1 Pet 3). This eschatological vision has the same universal scope as Wesley’s doctrine of prevenient grace, but involves a temporal relaxation as compared with Wesley’s evangelicalism.The common ground between Grundtvig and Wesley casts a new light on the very structure of Grundtvig’s theology. Grundtvig’s “Church View” should not be understood as a precursor to 20th century dialectical theology. Divine action, according to Grundtvig, is certainly primary to human activity, but it is not unilateral. The baptismal covenant between God and the human person involves an “agreement”, or contract, between two parties, God and humanity. God offers His divine grace, but human beings should themselves accept grace in order to be part of salvation. This important motif is reflected in Grundtvig’s doctrinal writings, especially in his doctrine of baptism; however, conditionalist motifs can also be found in his hymns and sermons.

The Incarnation in Martin Luther’s Theology

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Käfer
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Communicatio Idiomatum ◽  
The One

Luther’s understanding of the Incarnation concerns various subject areas in his theology, among them his understanding of scripture, his teaching on the sacraments in particular, as well as his description of a human being’s life of faith. All these subject areas are based on Luther’s Christology, which is essentially determined by his insights into the Incarnation and the humanity of God in Jesus Christ. Luther’s description of the Incarnation and the humanity of God is particularly oriented towards the creed of Chalcedon. The insight that Christ is at the same time true human and true god is something Luther holds as relevant to salvation. For this reason, it is important for him on the one hand to think about the Incarnation of God in a Trinitarian context and thereby to highlight Christ’s divine existence. On the other hand, he refers to the concept of the Virgin Birth in order to show that God was born a real human being. Luther describes the union of God and man in Christ principally as a reciprocal exchange of the respective divine and human characteristics. He uses the figure of the communication of properties (communicatio idiomatum) to highlight the Incarnation’s fundamental significance for salvation, which becomes manifest in the course of Christ’s life. Luther’s conception of the fact and manner in which human and divine natures are united with each other in Christ is of soteriological relevance. With the incarnate God, the sin that Christ has taken upon himself for the salvation of humankind is defeated on the Cross, since by virtue of his human nature the characteristics of being able to suffer and to die were proper to the incarnate Son of God. Accordingly, God himself suffers and dies on the Cross in Christ for his own creatures under the burden of their sins. On the Cross, the God who died in Christ and with his resurrection has overcome the death of sin meets his creatures so that they attain faith and ultimately eternal life in community with God. This saving event is, according to Luther, founded in God’s immeasurable love. The saving effectiveness of Incarnation, Cross, and resurrection presupposes Christian proclamation, according to Luther. The preaching of the incarnate God is needed, so that through the operation of the Holy Spirit the truth of the proclaimed event can be recognized and faith can thereby arise. In faith in the Son of God who has become man, the believer himself experiences a most intimate connection with Christ. According to Luther, this community of faith determines the consummation of the life of the believer, who therefore lives in love for God and for neighbor because the love of God has been revealed to him/her in Christ. The community of Christ’s faithful with one another is, according to Luther, above all formed through the celebration of the sacraments. In celebrating them, the believers experience the real presence of the incarnate God in Christ, through whom they are bound in faith based on the communication of properties between the human and divine natures.

The Goodness of Home

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Marandiuc
Keyword(s):  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Divine Love ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Middle Term ◽  
Human Love ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Theological Argument

The question of what home means and how it relates to subjectivity has fresh urgency in light of pervasive contemporary migration, which ruptures the human self, and painful relational poverty, which characterizes much of modern life. Yet the Augustinian heritage that situates true home and right attachment outside this world has clouded theological conceptualizations of earthly belonging. This book engages this neglected topic and argues for the goodness of home, which it construes relationally rather than spatially. In dialogue with research in the neuroscience of attachment theory and contemporary constructions of the self, the book advances a theological argument for the function of love attachments as sources of subjectivity and enablers of human freedom. The book shows that paradoxically the depth of human belonging—thus, dependence—is directly proportional to the strength of human agency—hence, independence. Building on Søren Kierkegaard’s imagery alongside other sources, the book depicts human love as interwoven with the infinite streams of divine love, forming a sacramental site for God’s presence, and playing a constitutive role in the making of the self. The book portrays the self both as gifted from God in inchoate form and as engaged in continuous, albeit nonlinear becoming via experiences of human love. The Holy Spirit indwells the attachment space between human beings as a middle term preventing its implosion or dissolution and conferring a stability that befits the concept of home. The interstitial space between loving human persons subsists both anthropologically and pneumatologically and generates the self’s home.

Revelation, Tradition, and Culture

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald O’Collins, SJ
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Human History ◽  
Present Experience ◽  
Lower Case ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ

Tradition as process and as object needs to be understood in the light of divine revelation and the inspired Scripture. Primarily interpersonal or relational and secondarily propositional or cognitive, revelation involves a past fullness in Christ, a present experience, and a future, definitive consummation. As process, tradition is pre-given and always part of us, collective, richly polymorphous, sacramentally communicated through words and actions, often in tension with present experience, open to change or reform, and ending only with the close of human history. At the heart of innumerable traditions (plural and in lower case) is the Tradition (singular and in upper case), the risen Christ made present through the Holy Spirit, not an object we possess but a reality by which we are possessed. While they frequently overlap, ‘culture’ differs from tradition by not being so clearly an ‘action word’.

scholarly journals Martin Luther and Justification

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olli-Pekka Vainio
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacramental Theology ◽  
Union With Christ ◽  
Good Works ◽  
Essential Question ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Media ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Well Function ◽  
The One

The doctrine of justification is an account of how God removes the guilt of the sinner and receives him or her back to communion with God. The essential question concerns how the tension between human sin and divine righteousness is resolved. Luther’s central claim is that faith alone justifies (that is, makes a person righteous in the eyes of God) the one who believes in Christ as a result of hearing the gospel. This faith affects the imputation of Christ’s righteousness that covers the sins of the believer. In contrast to medieval doctrines of justification, Luther argues that Christ himself, not love, is the form, or the essence, of faith. Love and good works are the necessary consequences of justification even if they are not necessary for justification. However, the inclination to love and perform good works is present in the believer through Christ, who is present in faith, but these characteristics do not as such, as renewed human qualities, have justifying power. Luther’s doctrine of justification cannot be classified with simplistic categories like “forensic” and “effective” (see the section “Review of the literature” below). Often these terms are used to refer to differing interpretations of justification. However, several recent traditions of scholarship perceive this categorical differentiation as simplistic and misleading. Instead, these terms may well function to designate different aspects of God’s salvific action. In the narrow sense, justification may refer to the forensic and judicial action of declaring the sinner free from his or her guilt. A broader sense would include themes and issues from other theological doctrines offering a holistic and effective account of the event of justification, in which the sinner believes in Christ, is united with Christ’s righteousness, and receives the Holy Spirit. Depending on the context, Luther may use both narrow and broad definitions of justification. Here Luther’s doctrine of justification is approached from a broader perspective. On the one hand, justification means imputation of Christ’s alien righteousness to the believer without merits. On the other hand, faith involves effective change in the believer that enables one to believe in the first place. This change is not meritorious because it is effected by Christ indwelling in the believer through faith. Thus, Christ gives two things to the sinner: gratia, that is, the forgiveness of sins, and donum, that is, Christ himself. The media through which Christ offers his mercy are the word and sacraments. Thus, Luther’s sacramental theology, Christology, and soteriology form a coherent whole. Because justification involves union with Christ, which means participation in Christ’s divine nature, Luther’s doctrine of justification has common elements with the idea of deification.

Chrysostom’s Homily on the Word Koimeterion and on the Cross: A Translation and Commentary

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
David M. Friel
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Full Text ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Cross

Abstract Chrysostom’s homily De coemeterio et de cruce (CPG 4337) was delivered during a full eucharistic synaxis on Good Friday in a cemetery outside the gates of late-fourth-century Antioch. It demonstrates both rhetorical and theological prowess. Chrysostom consoles his hearers by likening death to sleep and reflecting on the cemetery as a “sleeping place” (koimeterion). The text is notable for its theology of physical space, its conception of liturgical anamnesis, and its presentation of the Christus Victor atonement motif. The homily also highlights the liturgical role of the Holy Spirit, especially by alluding to the eucharistic epiclesis, and it chastises the congregation for their poor behavior during the communion rite. This article presents the homily’s full text in Greek with English translation, followed by a commentary that probes its major themes and liturgical aspects.

Desires of the Spirit

2020 ◽  
pp. 183-231
Author(s):  
Simeon Zahl
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Culturally Embedded

This chapter examines the work of the Holy Spirit in the transformation and sanctification of Christians. It argues that accounts of sanctification that build upon the idea of an instantaneous implantation of new moral powers in the Christian upon receipt of the Spirit have significant problems. It then turns to Augustine’s theology of delight and desire to provide an alternative theology of sanctification that is experientially and affectively more persuasive. The second half of the chapter shows that this “affective Augustinian” approach has a number of further advantages. It can account for the fact that sanctifying experience of the Spirit exhibits variability and that human beings are often a mystery to themselves; it can affirm a qualified role for practice and habituation in Christian sanctification without overestimating the transformative power of Christian practice; and it directs attention to the social as well as materially and culturally embedded dimensions of sanctification. The chapter concludes by arguing that an “affective Augustinian” vision of Christian transformation can also account effectively and compassionately for the persistence of sin in Christians.

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